Graduate students in FAA may be appointed to the academic
staff as a Research Assistant, Teaching Assistant, Pre-Professional Graduate
Assistant, or Graduate Assistant.  The distinctions among these positions
have been developed by the campus so that titles accurately reflect the type of
responsibilities assigned to an assistantship. Explanations are given in
documents of the Academic Human Resources website.

Each FAA unit has specific
selection criteria and an agreed upon process which are used in hiring graduate
assistants. Assistantship selections are usually merit based and may require specific
skills or knowledge.  Assistants may be
appointed on a semester-to-semester basis or
for the entire academic year. Renewal is at the discretion of the department
upon the advice of the supervising faculty member. An appointment remains in
effect only if the student maintains good academic standing, is making
satisfactory academic progress, and is providing satisfactory service. Assistantships are not a form of financial aid.

The Campus establishes a minimum stipend amount for
assistantships annually (http://www.ahr.uiuc.edu/Grads/Grad0809Rates.htm).
Individual units have discretion to exceed this and to provide for merit
or length of service.  Graduate assistants are on the academic payroll and
paid on the 15^th of each month during the appointment period. 

Additional information concerning graduate assistantships
is provided by the Graduate College (http://www.grad.uiuc.edu/Policies/ga_guidelines.htm).